Patent nonsense about Agenda 21

Rep. Greg Smith, R-Overland Park, acknowledged that when Agenda 21 is mentioned, some people "hear the 'Twilight Zone' music go off," the Lawrence Journal-World reported. Yet he and other lawmakers added to the perception that they are conspiracy nuts with their claims about the nonbinding 20-year old United Nations resolution that encourages sustainable development. Smith said Agenda 21 "questions the sovereignty of the United States. It questions the sovereignty of Kansas." Rep. Dennis Hedke, R-Wichita, called Agenda 21 "the most aggressive attack on our liberties ... that we have ever seen, and it is growing." The push to pass a resolution condemning Agenda 21 is being backed by Americans for Prosperity. But Rabbi Moti Rieber, director of Kansas Interfaith Power & Light, said in submitted testimony that right-wing activists are trying to scare people by "claiming that the U.N. is going to come to take away the keys to our cars or our rights to private property. This is, of course, patent nonsense."

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